Extension Dean receives national award

Champion Award acknowledges her role in creating national eXtension website linking national resources

7/18/2011 - By: Jim Sloan

University of Nevada Cooperative Extension Dean and Director Karen Hinton addresses a group at the State 4-H Camp at Lake Tahoe in 2010.

University of Nevada Cooperative Extension Dean and Director Karen Hinton has been named an eXtension Champion for her work in developing and supporting the online community that connects Extension services across the U.S.

The website eXtension.org is an interactive learning environment delivering information from Cooperative Extension experts from all over Nevada and the United States. Hinton helped create eXtension, and served as chair of the eXtension Governing Committee in 2009. She also served on the eXtension Foundation Board of Directors and is on the Director's Council for eXtension.

"Karen has provided leadership and guidance while representing the views and needs of Cooperative Extension," said eXtension Director Dan Cotton. "Karen decided long ago that eXtension could help transform Cooperative Extension, help the organization work more efficiently, provide needed educational resources and services, and save the organization money."

One example is eXtension.org's "Ask an Expert" feature, accessible through University of Nevada Cooperative Extension. "Ask an Expert" provides prompt, research-based answers to a wide range of questions - from tax, retirement and personal finance issues to queries about when to plant heirloom tomatoes. The answers are provided by researchers from around the country who collaborate on their answers and provide information that's based on sound research.

Answers provided on eXtension are vetted by several Extension experts and are frequently updated as new information surfaces or laws change.

Hinton noted that eXtension.org has been receiving a lot of questions from Nevadans in recent years about how to navigate the economic downturn. In an effort to pull together the best ideas from around the country, Extension researchers created an online resource called "Financial Security: Managing Money in Tough Times." The website has reliable, research-based information on a broad range of financial-survival topics for families, businesses, municipalities and small farms and ranches.

Hinton said she was honored by the recognition.

"A lot of people have worked hard to make eXtension the vibrant, useful tool that it is," Hinton said. "I'm proud of what we've accomplished and how much our faculty has been able to contribute to the effort."